Edinburgh eatery named '˜best local restaurant' in Good Food Guide

It is housed in a basement tucked away on a city side street and uses almost entirely ingredients found within a 25 mile radius.

Now Edinburgh restaurant Forage and Chatter has been named Scotland’s Best Local Restaurant in the prestigious Good Food Guide 2019.

The Good Food Guide’s annual Top 50 restaurant ranking is highly regarded by chefs and restaurant goers alike and is now in its 68th year of publication.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Six other eateries from north of the Border have made the UK-wide top 50 “best restaurant” list in the 2019 guide.

Forage and Chatter owner Cameron McNeilForage and Chatter owner Cameron McNeil
Forage and Chatter owner Cameron McNeil

Restaurant Andrew Fairlie at the Gleneagles estate ranked highest of the Scottish contingent at number 12.

The other Scottish restaurants in the top 50 of the guide, published by Waitrose & Partners, included The Peat Inn in Fife, The Kitchin and Restaurant Martin Wishart in Leith, The Three Chimneys on the Isle of Skye, and Castle Terrace in Edinburgh. The Good Food Guide editors said Forage and Chatter, which launched in November 2016, had received “consistently good reports from readers”.

The guide added: “Food is expertly cooked, service friendly, and the wines decent and well priced.”

Owner Cameron McNeil said: “I’m delighted. I would like to thank all of our staff and patrons and hope that the success continues. I think the reason that people have enjoyed it so much is simply because we cook properly. We have a small menu, but we make sure that everything is done at a top level. It is attention to detail.”

Forage and Chatter is situated on Alva Street in Edinburgh’s prestigious West End.

The restaurant opened in 2016 and sources its plants from the Secret Herb House Garden.

The top restaurant in the guide UK-wide is held by Restaurant Nathan Outlaw in Cornwall for the second year in a row.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The guide, which is published today, will for the first time list restaurants that have a dedicated vegan menu in response to the growing demand for plant-based meals.

The guide says of Restaurant Andrew Fairlie: “The world outside and indeed time itself is left behind as engaging staff glide through a seemingly effortless choreography with the diner at the centre. The food is as polished as the performance.”

Six other Scottish restaurants made it into the Good Food Guide for the first time this year, including The Boathouse on the Isle of Uvla and Ballintaggart Farm in Grandtully, Perthshire.

Corusik House on the Isle of Skye is also a first-time entrant, alongside Le Roi Fou in Edinburgh, Pennygate Lodge on the Isle of Mull and Saramago in Glasgow.